StarGate: Lyrical
by Ryvaken Lucius Tadrya
Summary: Years after the JS incident, Nanoha Takamachi finds herself having a day off with her daughter at a museum on MidChilda when suddenly she gets a call from...Earth? Meanwhile, with three dead System Lords behind them, SG-1 tracks down a gate address far removed from what they know to be goa'uld controlled space. But nothing prepared them for what they found.
1. A Day Off

Well, I'm at it again. More madness from my mind. This one, at least, comes from the collision of two excellent stories…may I do justice to them both. Certainly I didn't do justice to the name.

StarGate: Lyrical

Chapter 1: A Day Off

Colonel Jack O'neill looked at the memo in his hand and sighed. Really, he lost almost every memo anyone sent him, and this is the one that managed to catch him when he was actually on the same planet?

He was supposed to be fishing by now! He was supposed to be at his cabin by the lake that he'd never so much as seen a fish in with a six pack and a frozen trout he could toss on a grill. Really, after everything Hathor had just put them through, he deserved the break.

Instead, Daniel had translated something that Carter found fascinating and Hammond had decided was worth calling a briefing over.

Jack was staring at Daniel with a blank, empty expression as the nerd went on about something Jack had done after getting his head trapped in that Ancient head sucky database archive…thing. Then Carter got up and took over, turning on the screen which displayed a galactic starmap with stargate icons dotting it. Jack realized this all had something to do with the stargate addresses that he had entered into the computer, the ones the Goa'uld had never heard of.

"We never understood this part of the pattern," Carter said. She gestured at one of the galactic arms without any stargate addresses at all. "As far as we know, this region is not at all different from any other. There are of course any number of hazards inside it, but nothing to explain the huge gap."

"The goa'uld call this region Alard," Teal'c said. "Apophis decreed that no ship should venture inside it long before even Bratak's time."

Daniel frowned. "Alard…sounds like a loan word, but I have no idea from where. Does it mean anything?"

Teal'c shook his head. "I do not know."

"Maybe no one found anything interesting there," Jack suggested.

"That's what we thought with the Abydos gates," Sam agreed. "There'd be no reason for the goa'uld to build gates where there weren't any slave colonies."

"But the goa'uld did not build the gates," Teal'c said.

"Exactly," Sam said with satisfaction. "It wasn't until we met the Tok'ra that we got a hint. One of our early trades was for some potentially useful stargate addresses."

"Meaning they didn't give us anything that cost them," Jack pointed out.

"Trust takes time, Colonel," Hammond reprimanded gently. "Captain, please continue."

"The Tok'ra led us to another Ancient outpost. There wasn't much left there, SG-2 only managed to come back with a few broken crystals, but the Ancients left writing on the walls…literally." The screen changed to picture ruined walls covered by the strange, rectangular glyphs used by the Ancients.

Daniel stepped up again. "Most of the writing was too damaged to recover…and I'm still translating a lot of the rest. But this section," the screen changed and five, more familiar symbols joined the Ancient writing, "is clearly an address. Or at least part of one. The writing around it says 'place of the magi.' I believe this means scholars, perhaps scientists."

"We haven't matched the partial address with any that Colonel O'neill added to the system," Carter said. "However, there's only one piece missing. It took a while but we eventually backtracked the possibilities to a total of seven valid locations. All of them in this blank arm of the galaxy."

Hammond turned from the display to the conference table. "Any science or technology we can recover from the Ancients could give us an advantage against the goa'uld. If any of these addresses pan out, SG-1 has an immediate go."

"Yessir," Jack said.

* * *

Naturally, the first six attempts refused to lock. The seventh and final address, however, went through.

"Chevron seven locked," Corporal Walter announced.

"Send the MALP through," Hammond ordered.

SG-1 turned their attention to the monitors and waited the few tense seconds needed for the MALP to emerge and transmit data.

The static cleared and they got a good look at… "Well, we know it's inhabited," Jack said.

"By humans," Carter added. "Industrial or better, judging by her clothes."

"Indeed," Teal'c agreed.

The woman on the screen was saying something he couldn't understand. "Chinese?" Jack wondered, studying the image. The colonies they'd found had all been pretty racially distinct, since they tended to have a common ancestry.

"Japanese. But why is she pointing a staff at the MALP?" Daniel wondered.

"Walter, turn up the volume on the MALP's microphone," Hammond ordered. The room filled with calm-sounding gibberish. "Doctor Jackson, do you understand what she's saying?"

"Um, she's threatening to impound the MALP," he said uncertainly.

"Is that why she's pointing a staff at the camera?" Jack asked.

* * *

Nanoha smiled. She'd never admit it, but it was good to have a day off every once in a while, especially if it didn't involve another hospital stay. It would have been even better if Fate hadn't been offworld, but they could sync up some leave time next week. Today, though, it was just her and Vivio. The cloned Belkan princess had been her daughter for nearly three years, but while those mismatched eyes and cheerful voice were familiar, Nanoha knew she'd never stop feeling a thrill from seeing her little girl happy.

Today they were visiting one of MidChilda's largest museums. The Central Mid Grand Museum boasted attractions for all ages and interests, and having been there more than a few times, dating all the way back to when she and Fate were no older than Vivio, Nanoha knew better than to doubt them. The grand, sprawling, stately marble building held within it one of the wonders of modern MidChilda, a stable oriented surface projected over an unknown number of dimensions on a topologically nontrivial space. The first exhibit in the door was a diagram of the knot that the museum currently used to generate the surface, and not even her long experience with the physics-heavy math that was MidChildan magic let Nanoha follow more than a portion of the structure, which changed as exhibits were added and removed.

The practical result of the departure from normal three-space was that there were a dizzying number of ways to get around the museum, each passage marked by a topic that relates one exhibit to the next. Backtracking or finding a specific exhibit was nearly impossible, making the CMGM an unpopular destination for scholars, but it was a perfect place for a family day trip. There were exhibits of art and history, of course, but the big draw were the sections of science and magic, filled with interactive displays and games for the kids and some impressive displays that even the most severe, unchildish adult could enjoy.

Nanoha paid for their tickets and let Vivio take the lead. The heterochromatic girl squealed and ran down the bright yellow MAGIC pathway. Nanoha jogged after her. "Vivio, don't run!" she called.

"Okay, mama" Vivio called back, slowing to…well at least she wasn't running anymore.

Bottle the energy of a child and you could sell it for a fortune, Nanoha thought wryly. The first exhibit was fairly bland, a demonstration of core principles, but there were a dozen different pathways out of it, each following a different thread of magical lore. To Nanoha's surprise, Vivio followed the Belkan path. For hours Nanoha followed as her daughter explored her heritage. Sometimes she stuck to magical connections, but just as often she'd follow a branch with historical interest.

It was one of those branches that led them to a massive ring, held upright on a pedestal. It was about two stories tall and black as obsidian, although the display said it was made of some unknown super-heavy metal rather than stone. It had nine triangular panels on it, although two were hidden under the pedestal, and was covered in strange glyphs. The whole thing was mounted in a framework that it could spin freely in, but no one had managed to get it to budge. Eventually the magiscientists grew tired of trying to figure out what it was supposed to do and, since it didn't react to any magic anyone could think of, sent it to the museums as a curiosity, an inert lost logia. Current theory was that it was an experiment with magic circle geometries.

Nanoha and Vivio were about to leave when a wave of power flashed across their senses. "Master!" Raising Heart cried in alarm.

The two spun to see the nine panels flash white once, then the contraption spun. It slowed, stopped, and a light on top flared. One of the panels lit up at the same time, and stayed lit as the ring spun again. "Raising Heart, set up," Nanoha said softly.

"Standby, ready," the device reported. "Set up, Axel Mode. Barrier Jacket: Aggressor Mode."

"Vivio," Nanoha said, leveling her staff at the strange ring. "I want you to get help, okay?" She was already sending telepathic distress calls to the local TSAB ground forces' branch for someone qualified to work with lost logia, but she didn't think Vivio would react well to an order to run for her life.

"But mama," Vivio protested.

Nanoha's eyes narrowed as a third panel lit up. "No argument," she said sternly. "You need to be brave for mama, okay?"

Vivio nodded. "Okay. I'll get help, mama!"

Nanoha glanced behind her to see Vivio run down the red corridor. That one always led to the exit, no matter what exhibit you started in. Good. She was safe. She turned back and saw five panels lit. She walked closer. "Raising Heart, can you seal this thing?"

"I can try," the device said in its usual monotone.

Nanoha frowned. That was probably a no, but the thing just lit a sixth panel. She didn't want to know what it would do when all nine were lit. "Sealing, stand by-"

The ring stopped for a seventh time.

"Protection!" Nanoha's years of combat had honed her reflexes. The brief flicker of blue was all the warning she needed to throw up a shield against the sudden flash of destructive energy that blasted out at her. A roiling blue vortex scoured the barrier and forced her to load a cartridge to keep from breaking before the mess of power. She felt it eat at the barrier, ripping its outer layer to pieces even as she created new layers below it with the boost of energy. Then the attack was over.

Nanoha took a few steps back to get a better look. It was like…like there was a standing pool of water inside the ring. What in the Saint's name was this thing?

The answer, apparently, was a deployment system for some kind of robot. The strange device that rolled through the veil of watery energy was unlike anything Nanoha had seen on MidChilda. It was far too primitive to be a gadget drone; she could see the crude camera and antennae arrays, and the obvious grasping arm and wheels were dead giveaways. This thing wasn't built to fight a mage. Still, whatever it was, it had attacked first.

"No AI response, master," Raising Heart announced.

Ah, a remote controlled drone, then. Hopefully that meant they could hear her. "Attention, operators of the unidentified robot. You are under arrest for trespassing and using a registered lost logia. Identify yourselves and state your intentions or we will impound your robot."

She waited patiently for a reply for ten seconds. [Raising Heart,] she sent silently, [Area Search.]

[Alright,] Raising Heart sent back. Three small pink balls floated from her staff and through the 'water.'

* * *

"Trespassing I kinda get," Jack said, "but what's a logia?"

"Their name for the gate, probably," Daniel reasoned. "We need to tell her something."

"Agreed," Hammond said. "Doctor, I'd like you to tell her-"

"Sir!" Walter interrupted. "I think she's trying to send something through the gate."

"We'll be fine," Carter said quickly. "It's an outgoing connection. The only thing that can come backwards is…" her voice trailed off as the three balls materialized in the gate room. "…energy. Which, apparently, those are."

Hammond sounded an alarm. "Security teams to the gate room!"

"The…probes are splitting up," Walter announced.

"Track them."

"Sir," Jack said, nodding outside the command room's window. One of the probes hung there, watching them.

The woman on screen said something. "She wants to know who is in charge," Daniel translated.

"Tell her I am," Hammond said.

"Good," the woman said in accented but understandable English. "I am Nanoha Takamachi of the Space Time Administration Bureau. It is my duty to inform you that you are under arrest pending an investigation into the circumstances of this incident. If you surrender peacefully you will be able to defend yourself at trial."

Hammond frowned. "I am General George Hammond of the United States Air Force. We are on a peaceful mission of exploration."

Nanoha's expression faltered. "United States?"

"This device you call a logia is known to us as a StarGate. It allows us to travel between worlds." He glanced at a monitor that showed her probes going down corridors. "I need you to call off your probes or I will be forced to terminate our connection.

* * *

Nanoha's mind spun. Unless she missed her guess, she was talking to people on _Earth_. That wasn't possible. Her homeworld had trouble sending people to the moon, let alone across the stars. But if they had found some lost logia, learned to use it…

Impossible. Even the Belkans couldn't make something that magicless people could use safely. That base of theirs was pure tech. Yet clearly it was possible, because it was happening.

"Very well," Nanoha said, willing her other two searchers to wink out of existence.

"Thank you," Hammond said, visibly relieved. "I was hoping we could open a dialog."

"I understand," Nanoha said. "This is less than an optimal situation for such negotiations, however."

"Agreed," Hammond said. "I would like to send a team of representatives, called SG-1." He gestured to the people near him. "They are ready to embark now."

Nanoha didn't know much about guns, but she could recognize them. "Your firearms are illegal on TSAB administered worlds," she said.

Hammond's expression darkened. "I do not send my people into unknown situations unarmed."

Nanoha nodded. "A reasonable policy. I will need an hour to confer with my superiors, but it might be simpler if we visited you."

Hammond nodded slightly. "I should advise you that gate travel is one way. You would need to use a device to open the gate on your end. It should be a stone pedestal, about waist height, with buttons bearing the same symbols as on the gate itself."

Nanoha glanced off the camera for a moment. "The exhibit doesn't mention anything like that."

"You're in a museum?" Jack asked with mild amusement.

Nanoha offered a wry smile. "This was supposed to be my day off."

Jack offered her an identical look. "Mine, too. So you don't want us in with guns, but you singled them out, not 'weapons.'"

"Nonmagical weapons are illegal under TSAB law," Nanoha explained. "The previous regime used such to devastating effect on civilian populations."

* * *

"Nonmagical?" Jack asked skeptically.

Daniel snapped his fingers. "We could go in with staff weapons," he offered, gesturing Teal'c forward. The jaffa presented his staff to the little bauble.

Nanoha looked surprised. "Oh. Okay, that should work fine," she said brightly.

Hammond shook his head. "Without any way back?" he asked. "I cannot authorize a go."

"We can dial out manually," Daniel argued. "The gate is obviously in a secure location."

"And how do you know it will have the power to dial?" Hammond asked.

Carter turned to the probe. "Miss Takamachi, the stargate requires a large, preferably sustained supply of power to safely dial out. Could such a thing be arranged?"

Nanoha thought that over for a moment. "Worst case scenario, I need to call in a few favors. Yes, we can make sure you get home safely."

Hammond looked each member of SG-1 in the eye and saw determination and willingness, mixed with plenty of curiosity. He nodded. "You have a go."

* * *

An hour later, Nanoha waited in front of the silent "stargate" with Admiral Chrono Harlaown and a green-haired woman named Erisa Verano from the TSAB's diplomatic corps. "I'm surprised they got this together so fast," Nanoha commented.

"This isn't the first time an unadministered world has initiated contact," Verano said calmly. "Although it's usually a deep space encounter or transmission. The 'stargate' is a new twist on things."

"So this is what, standard operating procedure?" Nanoha asked dubiously.

"Exactly," Verano said. "A joint navy-civilian task force is put together. The Navy side pulls in whoever they know has worked on or around the planet in question. The civilian side does the exact opposite."

"With world 97," Chrono explained, "that means the Takamachi, Harlaown, and Yagami families are all being brought in. As ranking officer, I'm in overall command."

Nanoha nodded. "What exactly is our official goal here?"

"Evaluate the world for affiliated status and establish a treaty," Verano explained. "Usually the treaty's terms help us pave the way for TSAB membership."

The stargate unleashed an indescribable wave of power, again, and started dialing.

"Hmm," Chrono mused. "Not the most elegant means of teleportation."

"Dimensional transfer is limited to a few light years, even with a boost," Nanoha pointed out. "Earth's more than a day away at top cruiser speed. What it lacks in elegance it makes up for in range."

"Are you entirely sure it was world 97?" Verano asked.

"A few of their offices had star charts," Nanoha answered. "Their control room even had a galactic map. Yeah, I'm sure. And they had MidChilda pegged on that map, too. Barriers."

Although the SGC had warned everyone not to stand in front of the stargate when it opened, they didn't know exactly how the "unstable vortex caused by the formation of an artificial wormhole" would manifest unobstructed, so Nanoha and Chrono put up a bunch of barriers that would keep them safe as the seventh symbol rolled up to the top of the gate. It turned out to be unnecessary, however. The vortex was remarkably contained, well within Captain Carter's recommended safe distance.

A moment later the four members of SG-1 walked through and the portal vanished. They were wearing uniforms Nanoha recognized as military, with vests that looked like they could carry a decent sized field pack distributed over their bodies in lots of little pockets. They each carried a slightly ornate staff, taller than each of them and bearing a few moving parts, each one an identical copy. Some kind of storage device, then, mass produced for general use, rather than intelligent devices custom made for their bearers.

The leader, an aging man, looked around. "This isn't the same room," he said. He caught sight of the stargate and did a doubletake. "That's different."

Nanoha shook her head. "We moved the stargate into the TSAB ground force's main office complex," she explained. "Holding a meeting like this in a museum would be a little…odd." She gestured to Chrono. "May I introduce Admiral Chrono Harlaown, commander of the task force assigned to this meeting, and Erisa Verano, head diplomat of same."

Jack stepped forward and extended his hand. "Admiral. I am Colonel Jack O'neill, commanding officer, SG-1. My second in command, Captain Samantha Carter. Doctor Daniel Jackson, cultural expert. And Teal'c."

Chrono's eyes gauged the man Teal'c whose role went unstated. The gold brand on his forehead didn't mean anything to him, but his stance and demeanor were easy enough to read. He didn't know why a military man felt the need to have a bodyguard, though. "A pleasure," he told Jack, taking the man's hand. Western style greeting, just like Nanoha told them to expect. A round of hand-shaking commenced.

"How did you get the stargate in here?" Carter asked curiously.

"We called in someone really good with teleportation magic," Chrono answered. Getting a teleport to work in that museum demanded someone with skill, to say nothing of the mass of the gate.

Carter and Daniel traded a glance at the reference to magic. The Nox had been very vague about their apparent powers, but never denied that they were technological. They'd never seen anyone but goa'uld slave societies refer to magic so openly.

"I'm sure we have a lot to talk about," Verano said smoothly. "Perhaps a tour of the facility to start?"


	2. MidChilda

Chapter 2: MidChilda

Verano led the seven of them through the TSAB building, talking in very general terms about the Bureau's mandate as a police and disaster management force across member worlds.

"How many worlds?" Carter asked curiously.

"There are sixty-seven administrated worlds," Verano said, "but there are dozens of non-administrated worlds that we have routine contact with."

"What is your policy on such worlds?" Jack asked.

"Non-interference," Chrono answered. "Unless there's an emergency situation, in which case we attempt to keep the situation contained and out of sight of the locals until it is resolved. Several of our most promising agents were recruited from worlds without a formal system of magic. They'd get themselves in over their heads, threaten dimensional stability enough to trigger an investigation, and join up in order to have access to better equipment and trainers."

"Dimensional stability?" Carter asked.

Chrono nodded. "It's relatively easy to break dimensional barriers with magic, in order to exceed lightspeed or transit to another reality altogether. That also means that a large enough release of uncontrolled magical energy could rupture the dimensional wall. Such ruptures have destroyed entire planets, swallowed stars…stopping such incidents from occurring is one of the reasons the Bureau exists."

"So you've experimented with cross-reality travel?" Carter asked curiously.

"We use it regularly," Verano corrected. "The TSAB has member worlds in seven different realities and outposts over a hundred or so."

"Most of those outposts are research stations or mining camps or the like," Chrono explained. "We like to keep such things as far from civilian populations as possible."

"The TSAB's territory is like a sphere in multiple dimensions of space-time," Verano explained. "This world is at the rough center of that sphere. With our magical drives, it's as easy to fly to an alternate Midchilda as it is to leave this arm of the galaxy. We colonize where it's cost-effective to do so."

Carter and Daniel ate that explanation up and started asking questions – Carter about the physics in such travel and Daniel in the ethical implications of entangling multiple timelines with a single organization. As the discussion became more animated, however, Nanoha noticed that Jack was zoning out.

Nanoha smiled at Jack. "Colonel O'neill, would I be correct in thinking that you're a career military officer?"

Jack nodded. "I am," he said cautiously.

Nanoha's smile widened. "We have a training area nearby, and there should be a ground team scheduled. Would you care to observe?"

Jack thought that over. On the one hand, that would give them a chance to see what these MidChildans could do, useful if things went from friendly to…not so friendly. On the other hand, splitting up was often a bad idea in unfamiliar territory.

"How do you prevent exotic particle buildup upon reversion to normal three-space when you can't even be sure which three-space you're going to wind up in?" Carter asked.

Screw prudence, that gobbledygook almost made sense. He had to get out of there before he went completely insane! "Teal'c?" he asked calmly.

Teal'c nodded. "Indeed. I would be most pleased to see their warriors in battle."

"Chrono," Nanoha said a bit loudly, getting the admiral's attention. "Colonel O'neill and Teal'c would like to see the training grounds, is that okay?"

Chrono nodded. "Of course." He gave Verano a significant look.

Verano nodded and turned to Carter and Daniel. "Captain, Doctor, we didn't have much time to prepare for your arrival but I do have a copy of the TSAB charter and some other texts you might find useful. Including some of the theory behind our system of magic."

The two scientists smiled. "Thank you," Daniel said for them both. "That sounds fascinating."

"Remember, we need to check in with the SGC at 1700," Jack reminded them. "Be back at the gate in three hours."

* * *

Jack looked out over the wide plaza and nodded in appreciation. The TSAB training ground was on one side of the complex, a couple city blocks worth of smooth white metal sunk into the ground with high walls rising around it. Unless he was mistaken, there was an energy barrier above the wall forming a dome of protection as well, but it was too faint for him to be absolutely sure. Five men in armored uniforms with jeweled staves gathered a bit off to the center of the field and were apparently listening to instructions.

Nanoha smiled slightly. "This is going to be an urban scenario. There's a small power generator in the fifth floor of a burning building. If it overheats, it'll explode and kill a lot of people. Firefighters are trying to contain the fire but won't stop it in time."

"Is their objective to save the generator?" Teal'c rumbled.

"Their objective is to save lives," Nanoha corrected.

"So how do you simulate something that complicated?" Jack asked.

Nanoha smiled. "They'll set the stage in a few seconds."

True to her word, holographic buildings rose from the smooth floor. They formed from coruscating light patterns, their illusionary nature obvious at first, but after a minute they became opaque, indistinguishable from real buildings. "An impressive illusion," Teal'c said.

Jack nudged his friend and pointed to the squad. "They're standing on a roof that isn't there," he pointed out.

"Very impressive," Teal'c amended.

Nanoha smiled. "Mage training tends to get violent. These training grounds are expensive, but they are a lot cheaper than simpler alternatives." One building suddenly burst into flames, water shooting up at it from ground level.

Jack nodded as the squad leapt into action. One of them gestured and a slowly spinning circular diagram formed in the air, made out of green light. It was horizontal, wide enough for two men to stand on, and hanging in the air off the building. More formed, a halfdozen of them, forming a kind of staircase to the next roof. Then the other four jumped from circle to circle to cross the street, followed by the first man. The circles vanished behind the bridge-builder.

They repeated the bridge tactic three more times before splitting up. The bridge builder and two others circled around the building while the other two set themselves. One placed his hands forward and seemed to be focusing, the other pointed his staff at the burning building and it shot out some kind of glowing line. It anchored to the building he was on and his destination and his staff slid along the line smoothly, the man hanging below it.

"We use equipment like that," Jack said conversationally. "But why didn't he use the floating platforms? It would be a lot safer."

"There are some spells every mage learns," Nanoha explained, "but most of a mage's spells are based on his own talents and choices."

Jack tilted his head. "So you give your people 'spells' they're suited for?"

Nanoha shook her head. "No. The mage makes them himself."

Jack sighed. Magic. Carter must be having fits. "So how would you cross that gap?"

"I can fly," Nanoha said simply.

"Handy," Jack said, turning his attention back to the training.

The four mages not in the building had managed to surround it and had erected an energy barrier. Nanoha gestured and a small holographic flatscreen appeared in midair, showing them the fifth mage on the inside. "I requested the feed from the test's proctor," she explained.

Jack frowned. "When?"

"Just now," Nanoha said. "Telepathy."

Teal'c raised an eyebrow. "The goa'uld have sought to breed such abilities," he said. "I do not believe they have ever succeeded."

"Who are the goa'uld?" Nanoha asked.

"They are the false gods that enslave my people," Teal'c growled.

Nanoha's eyes darted to Teal'c's forehead involuntarily. "I see," she said, voice hard as iron. "How long?"

Jack gave Nanoha a calculating look. "Our current estimates are at least ten thousand years."

Nanoha turned slightly green at this. "That's…not possible," she said weakly. "We would have known."

"This area of the galaxy is far from their territory," Teal'c rumbled. "The false god Apophis decreed that no ship would venture here for any reason."

Nanoha's eyes narrowed. "You're fighting these goa'uld," she said, with a hint of approval in her tone. "You're looking for allies."

Jack nodded. "Our official mandate is to find weapons and technology to defend ourselves with. In practice, we've been gathering allies." He gestured to his staff weapon. "And a few spoils from engaging the enemy."

Nanoha looked over the weapon briefly. "You should submit a formal request for aid to Chrono," she said softly. "And informally suggest that negotiations take place in orbit over your world, so he can 'evaluate the situation' or something like that."

"You're telling us how to get your aid quickly," Teal'c observed. "And you don't think your superiors will approve."

Nanoha nodded. "Earth is a backwater as far as the higher-ups are concerned, and they won't want us getting involved in such a massive conflict…although if you can prove that these goa'uld have perpetrated an atrocity for thousands of years we can keep them from fighting too hard."

"Not that we don't appreciate this," Jack said, "but why are you helping us?"

Nanoha looked him in the eye. "I was born in Japan," she said flatly.

Jack's eyes widened. "You _what_?"

"I'm from Earth," Nanoha said, "the same planet you're from. My parents own a café in Uminari City. My sister and brother live there. My childhood friends. Chrono's family has a house there. Hayate, you haven't met her, she's from Earth too."

"Do you have any people on Earth right now?" Jack asked.

Nanoha thought for a moment. "One. An Admiral from Britain. He resigned ten years ago."

Jack ran his hand through his hair and let out a heavy sigh. Nanoha thought he looked twenty years older, the grim look in his eyes chasing away the easygoing attitude he'd had. "This complicates everything tremendously, you know," he said. "The stargate is very secret on Earth. None of our allies are in on it."

"So you want me to promise not to tell anyone who lives on Earth," Nanoha guessed.

"At least until we've had a chance to vet them," Jack agreed somewhat glumly. "I know this is an awkward position to be in."

Nanoha nodded. "I understand. So will my parents, if I can't tell them anyway. My dad was a bodyguard."

Jack looked out at the testing grounds, but he wasn't really paying attention anymore. The inside man was doing something that involved wrapping what he figured was the generator in glowing light. "So how's a girl from Japan become a captain on another planet with some seriously advanced technology?"

"I met a talking ferret," Nanoha said simply.

Teal'c nodded. "A powerful vision," he said, taking a stab at what he assumed was some strange part of Tau'ri culture.

"Uh, nyahaha," Nanoha laughed sheepishly. "No, I mean I met a mage who was in the shape of a ferret at the time. He's head of the Infinity Library now."

"You met a librarian who moonlights as a ferret and they gave you access to all this?" Jack asked incredulously.

Nanoha nodded. "There was a bit more to the story. If they give you access to TSAB case files you can read about it…but it's fairly personal otherwise."

"Does the Japanese government know about this…case?" Jack asked.

"No," Nanoha said. "When the secrecy falls apart the TSAB will issue a formal apology and reparations to Japan."

"Better to seek forgiveness than ask permission?" Jack asked.

Nanoha nodded. "No one on Earth was equipped to deal with that incident."

"Except you," Jack pointed out, somewhat dubiously. "How old were you when this happened?"

"Nine," Nanoha said, looking at Jack knowingly. His reaction did not disappoint.

"Nine!?" Jack bellowed. "They give weapons that powerful to _children_?"

Teal'c looked concerned as well. "They forced you to fight?"

"Nnn," Nanoha shook her head. "I forced them to let me. I wanted to finish what I started."

Jack shook his head. "Adults are supposed to stop kids from putting themselves in danger like that," he growled.

Nanoha smiled slightly. "Mage talents begin at a young age. Many of our best started in the service as teenaged part-timers. Although only a few are recruited as young as I was, and only those that can handle themselves are assigned field positions."

Jack ground his teeth slowly. "How would you like your daughter getting 'recruited' like that?"

Nanoha's eyes hardened and the glare she leveled at Jack was so cold it derailed the angry righteousness building inside him. "My daughter was kidnapped, tortured, and forced to fight _me_. If I tried to shelter her, she'd be a little china doll who couldn't stand up again for fear of breaking."

Teal'c nodded. "My son, Rya'c, had a similar experience. When we freed him from the brainwashing, I sent him away to train in the ways of the warrior with his mother."

Nanoha frowned and searched Teal'c's face. "You're…not from Earth, are you? If you were then you would have kept him with you. You sent him away because of that secrecy thing."

Teal'c nodded. "Rya'c has never seen Earth beyond the confines of StarGate Command."

Jack shook his head. He really didn't have ground to tell anyone how to raise their kid after his…well. Nanoha had called his hand and took him to the cleaners. He could respect that. "I don't like it," he admitted, "but it's clear it's done well by you, so I guess you'd know better than I would."

Nanoha nodded a bit. "It's not a norm for recruitment for a very good reason," she agreed. "A few years ago I was in a unit with a couple children. I was in charge of training them. I made sure that, whatever else, they'd be able to survive."

Jack nodded a bit and glanced back at the training ground. Smiles everywhere – they must have been successful. "Was it hard?"

Nanoha looked at the display and cleared it. "Every shot," she said quietly, a heavy weight in her words.

Jack offered a sad smile. "It should always be."

Nanoha returned it. "In any case, you have to check in now, right?"

* * *

Carter rubbed her face and looked back at the book. Unfortunately the words hadn't changed. "I think this text has some errors?" she tried.

Chrono looked over the book and offered a thin smile. "No, this is accurate."

"It's talking about the energy output of an organ in the human body," Carter confirmed.

Chrono nodded. "And most other animals, but most animal linker cores are barely worth mentioning."

"And that energy output can be compared to that of a small nuclear reaction?" Carter asked, pointing to a series of calculations. "The translation device you have must be malfunctioning."

"Fission, fusion, or annihilation?" Chrono asked.

Carter's eye twitched. "You have stable fusion reactions?"

"No," Chrono said, "we use magical reactors exclusively. Ancient Belka had fusion generators, though."

Carter felt her headache coming back. "How do those magical reactors generate power?"

"Geomantic convergence for ground installations," Chrono said. "I'm not sure about the details. Shipboard reactors tap aetherial energies instead."

Carter shook her head. "That doesn't make sense." A halfdozen theories suggested themselves to explain what those generators were really tapping, of course, but these equations didn't make sense for any of them. "And these linker cores?"

"Those create energy, although mages do have a greater caloric intake than others to sustain them."

"Unless you're feeding them a slurry of reactor fuel and sugar, that's not enough," Carter objected. "You can't just create energy from nowhere!"

Chrono grinned. "You know you're the first group that made contact from a pure-tech civilization," he said. "Most spacefarers across the dimensions are magical."

Carter latched onto that thought. "And how is this magic typically discovered?"

"Hedge wizards," Chrono said. "People who have enough power and enough smarts to create spells without help. They get together, form societies, eventually create a magical system that opens it up to the masses." He gives her a hooded glance. "I'm surprised you're not one."

"Me?" Carter yelped.

"I'd bet you'd max out at C rank," Chrono admitted, "but you clearly have the intelligence to use what power you have."

"You could teach me to do…this stuff?" Carter asked, gesturing at the books of magical formulae.

Chrono nodded. "Not easily, but if you got a tutor, you could be casting common spells within a year."

Carter worked her mouth silently. A huge opportunity to personally research this 'magic' balanced against the fear that she had something within her that flew in the face of everything she knew. Finally she managed to find her voice. "That…that is an interesting proposal."

Chrono nodded. "But it's almost time for your rendezvous," he pointed out. "We should get you back to the gate."

* * *

Daniel looked over the city and shook his head. "The architecture is…too modern," he said.

Verano frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Well if I ignored the life-bearing way-too-close moons," Daniel said, glancing skyward again, "this skyline would be absolutely unexceptional on Earth, in Japan, the US, or any other post-industrial nation. Whatever ancient influences fed into it are buried too deep to see."

Verano tilted his head. "You expected to find some common culture?" he asked curiously.

Daniel nodded. "Every group of humans we've found evolved on Earth and was then transported offworld through the stargate to serve as slaves thousands of years ago."

"Really?" Verano asked, mildly interested. "We don't have any records dating back that far. The Saint War destroyed a great deal."

"Wars tend to do that," Daniel agreed glumly. "Who did you fight?"

Verano shook his head. "The Saint War ended the old era," he explained, "when Belka ruled this part of dimensional space. Belka collapsed in the strife and then there were a few centuries of chaos before the TSAB was formed."

"So it wasn't just the war," Daniel realized. "There's also what came after."

Verano nodded. "That's one reason why librarians, researchers, and archeologists are so common," he explained. "We're trying to recover or recreate what was lost." He smiled slightly. "Of course in the process we've created a fair bit that Belka never had."

Daniel nodded. "In my world's history there was a massive library that was burned to the ground after a change in regime. Scientific learning was considered heresy for hundreds of years afterwards. As far as we've come since, people still wonder about what we could have done had that setback never been in our history."

Verano smiled. "If we do our jobs well, our peoples will not be the cause of more such grief."

Daniel returned the smile. "Then we should do our jobs very well indeed." He checked his watch. "But now, I need to meet up with the rest of SG-1."

* * *

SG-1 reconvened as planned next to the stargate. Admiral Chrono had brought with him a small green crystal, about the size of his fist, which he attached to the gate. "Set up," he ordered the crystal.

"Initialized," the crystal responded in an extremely mechanical voice. "Link up ready. Power charge."

Jack glanced at Carter. "Captain?"

"Admiral Chrono called it a power node," Carter said dubiously. "It's supposed to tap the city's power grid wirelessly." The stargate's chevrons flashed and the ring shifted slightly. "And…apparently it works," Carter finished.

"Teal'c, Daniel," Jack said, motioning them forward. He turned to Chrono. "Admiral."

Chrono's eyes tracked the two heading to the gate and then snapped back to Jack. "Colonel?"

"How many times has the TSAB been in contact with Earth?"

Chrono's eyes flickered over to Nanoha. "Captain Takamachi told you," he said.

"Yes," Jack answered. "Was she not supposed to?"

"She wasn't under a gag order," Chrono said, "but these negotiations are often delicate enough without the appearance of violating sovereignty like this." He sighed. "I was personally involved in two incidents in and around Japan. The TSAB has had an additional three surveys that did not become incidents over the past twenty years, one of which I was in command of. There have been three reported accidental landings by TSAB ships, one of which was in your country."

"Roswell?" Jack guessed.

"Vegas," Chrono corrected.

"That explains why no one saw anything unusual," Jack muttered.

"Jack?" Daniel called.

Jack frowned and turned to the gate. "Problem?" he asked.

"The gate will not dial, O'neill," Teal'c said.

"Misdial?"

"Tried it twice," Daniel said. "We might have point of origin off, but I don't think so."

"Carter?" Jack asked.

Carter frowned. "This gate isn't like the others," she said slowly. "I wouldn't know where to begin."

"We know it's old," Daniel said. "Older than most of them, judging by the ruins we got this address from. And we know that the Ancients avoided this region as much as the goa'uld."

"You're thinking it's a one-way gate?" Carter asked skeptically. "I don't think so. It clearly has dial-out capability."

"Then maybe it's limited in some way," Daniel argued. "They wanted this region isolated."

"A substandard gate?" Carter mused. "That would make sense, especially the lack of DHD."

Jack scowled. "Doctors?" he interrupted. "This is all very fascinating, but how do we fix it?"

Carter winced. "Sorry, sir. If this theory is accurate, it's not a matter of fixing. The gate is simply not designed to be able to dial Earth. And even if we're wrong, we don't have the equipment to do anything."

Jack rubbed his forehead. "So no blasting it with lightning?"

"Not this time, sir," Carter said.

"Options, people," Jack ordered.

"General Hammond will dial in when we miss our scheduled report," Teal'c rumbled. "We can request assistance at that time."

"Unless they've found another head-sucky thing that won't help," Jack said.

Nanoha leaned over towards Chrono. "Head sucky thing?" she whispered. Chrono shrugged.

"The SGC can get in touch with our offworld allies," Daniel said.

"The Asgard aren't terribly talkative, the Tollan are unreachable, the Tok'ra are the Tok'ra, and no one else has ships," Jack says, counting off one 'ally' after the other.

"We could give you a lift," Nanoha suggested.

Jack turned to blink at Nanoha. "What?"

"Well like I said, I'm from Earth. You thought we wouldn't have ships that could take me back to see my family? We can give you a ride."

Jack blinked. "Carter?"

"Sir, I have no idea how any of their tech really works," she confessed. "This is a good chance to see it in action."

"Carter," Jack repeated.

"Sorry, sir. If they can make the trip safely, that's our best bet."

Jack checked his watch. "Hammond will try and get in touch with us in about thirty minutes," he estimated. "We need to know if you can play cabbie by then, if possible."

Nanoha nodded and looked to Chrono. "I recommend taking the Claudia to Earth," she said.

Chrono coughed. "The Claudia?" he asked. "For courier duty?"

Nanoha turned to Jack. "The Claudia is Admiral Chrono's flagship," she explained.

"And you don't take a state of the art warship on a run like this," Chrono said firmly. "I can divert a courier ship easily, we'll have you home in three days."

"Admiral," Nanoha hedged, "I have reason to believe that after Colonel O'neill confers with his superiors, he will place an official request for aid."

Chrono's expression went slack. "An official…" he stared at Nanoha for a few seconds. She stared back.

Jack glanced at Daniel. "What are they doing?" he asked quietly.

"I'm not sure," Daniel whispered. "I saw a few people that did something like this when I walked by."

"It's called telepathy," Verano said. "It's a standard mage skill. Useful for communicating over long distances."

"Or when you don't want anyone listening in," Jack said pointedly.

Verano nodded in agreement.

Chrono let out a sudden sigh and turned to face Jack. "Captain Takamachi has somewhat outstepped her bounds, but she is correct. I'll signal the Claudia to recall shore leave. It'll still take a couple days to get my crew ready to go."

The stargate flashed then and started spinning. Everyone backed away. Jack frowned. "It's too early to be Hammond. SG-1, defensive positions."

"What?" Chrono asked. "Who is it?"

"No way to know," Carter said, backing away with the rest of her team. "But the choices are almost all bad."

"Understood," Chrono said. "Nanoha?"

"Raising Heart, set up!"

"Drive ignition. Axel mode standby ready." At the same time, Chrono's storage device deployed with much less fanfare.

Carter shook her head at the strange staff weapons and the collapsible designs. "And I thought figuring out the gate was hard," she muttered.

Chevron seven locked into place and the gate opened, but no one came through. SG-1's radios caught a new transmission, however.

"…-1 this is SGC. Repeat, SG-1 this is General Hammond."

"SGC this is O'neill," Jack said into his radio. "We are experiencing difficulties with the gate. Why did you check in early, sir?"

"We have a situation, Colonel. The Asgard are looking for you."


	3. Deployment

Chapter 3: Deployment

"Say again, SGC?" Jack said. He couldn't have heard that right.

"The Asgard ship Beliskner showed up in orbit and projected a hologram at the foot of the stargate," Hammond said. "A…man calling himself Thor said that he had come to meet with you about a matter of grave importance."

"Me?" Jack asked skeptically.

"You, Colonel. The System Lords are planning to attack Earth."

Teal'c stiffened. "Apophis struck in haste, with much of his fleet engaged in claiming Ra's territory," he said. "If the System Lords have agreed to strike as one, their force will be far greater than his."

"That's what Thor said," Hammond confirmed. "He wants to put Earth in the Protected Planets Treaty, and wants you, Jack, to represent Earth."

"What?" Jack asked, aghast. "He doesn't want me. He wants Daniel."

"No matter who he wants we need you back here," Hammond cut Jack off. "Report."

"Dial-out failed," Jack said. "Carter thinks this gate isn't built to dial out."

The radio was silent for a few moments. "Do we have any way to get you back?"

Chrono stepped up and waved to Jack. Jack nodded to Daniel who handed his radio to the man. "This is Admiral Chrono Harlaown of the Time Space Administration Bureau. We are prepared to offer your people passage on one of our ships, in the interest of further relations."

"Admiral. On behalf of my people, I am grateful for your offer. SG-1, you are authorized to take whatever actions are needed to return home safely."

"Understood," Jack said. "Sir, while we have the Admiral on the line, I suggest you petition for aid against this potential threat."

Another pause. "Admiral, would you be able to assist in the defense of this world?"

Chrono smiled grimly, but of course Hammond couldn't see that. "On my personal authority the Claudia will be ready to deploy tomorrow. We'll be at Earth a day later for a fact finding mission."

"The Asgard don't know when the attack will happen," Hammond said grimly. "A few motherships are already heading in our direction."

Chrono's face hardened and he turned to Nanoha. "Emergency orders," he said to her as much as Hammond. "The Claudia is to be ready to deploy in an hour, flank speeds. I want to be on Earth _tonight_."

Nanoha snapped a salute, a relieved expression on her face. "With pleasure, sir!"

"…again, thank you," Hammond said. "If I may ask, why…?"

"My mother owns a house in Japan," Chrono said. "I have friends on and from your world."

Another silence. "SG-1, I look forward to your report. Time is short, so it will wait."

"Leave a light on for us, sir," Jack said. "We'll be planetside in…"

"…five hours," Chrono finished. "Assuming normal conditions."

"And if not?" Hammond asked.

Chrono sighed. "Seven hours on the outside." Unless someone blew a hole in the dimensional wall again, then it could take six months. "Or as few as three. Dimensional travel is much like sailing an ocean, but the winds and currents are less predictable."

"Understood. SG-1, anything further to report?"

"Nothing critical, sir," Jack said. "Keep a light on for us."

"Godspeed, Colonel." The stargate cut out a moment later.

Jack turned to Chrono. "So how did we go from days to hours?" he asked curiously.

Chrono's expression was grim. "I'm going to run the generator up to 110% recommended and dump it all in the engines," he said. "The techs will have my hide, but we'll be in position if things go south."

"And combat ready?" Jack asked dubiously. "You might be flying into a war zone."

Chrono nodded. "We'll be able to fire at least one barrage before being forced to retreat. These goa'uld do not have dimensional drive?"

"I have never heard of such a thing," Teal'c rumbled.

"Then we'll be able to retreat easily," Chrono assured, "and can deploy troops from a safe distance."

Jack nodded. "You seem to have thought this out."

"I was an Enforcer," Chrono said. "You think on your feet and think fast, or you die. Now, I have a ship to organize. Verano, get them to the port. Colonel, I want a briefing on what the hell we're jumping into."

Jack nodded. "You'll have it, Admiral."

Chrono nodded and teleported out.

Jack stared. "Okay, that's just cool."

* * *

Chrono was true to his word. Within an hour the Claudia's crew had been recalled from shore leave (not without a few grumbles) and the mighty warship was breaking orbit and almost instantly transitioned into dimensional space.

Jack and Teal'c looked out the window at the swirling maelstrom. "That doesn't look like hyperspace," Jack said.

"Indeed," Teal'c agreed.

They looked for a few more moments. "Well, that's a thing," Jack said, turning away.

"Sir, this ship is giving me a headache," Carter reported. "There is enough computer equipment that it should just be a matter of translating alien standards into measurements we know, but some of the sensor feeds they've let me access…is it possible they're sending us faulty data?"

"I doubt it," Daniel said. "Mr. Verano was fairly open about many things. They don't really have a policy to keep scientific knowledge out of our hands."

Sam scowled. "According to this, the laws of physics are having a holiday, complete with singing, dancing, and waking up the next day with a hangover."

"I'm guessing that's bad," Jack said dryly.

"Sir, the only way these readings make sense is if we are surrounded by exotic particles. Which are by their very nature highly energetic, unstable, unpredictable, and uncontrollable."

"An accurate assessment, Captain," Chrono agreed, walking into the room. "But they can be guided, and the ship is shielded from most adverse reactions."

"Most?" Jack asked warily.

"The probability of something we can't handle is about the same as getting struck by lightning," Chrono assured. "The chances of it happening fast enough and close enough that we can't avoid it are an order of magnitude worse."

"So, what, one in a million?" Jack asked.

"Trillion," Chrono corrected.

"Oh. That's okay then," Jack said, mollified.

"we like to think so," Chrono said. "Now, I believe you were about to explain the goa'uld, Asgard, and the Protected Planets Treaty."

Jack turned to his team. "Daniel?"

Daniel launched into an explanation of the history of the goa'uld as best they knew, which started at the time Ra found Earth. "Ra discovered that human bodies were receptive to his technology more than the hosts and slaves the goa'uld used before, which we believe to be called unas, or the 'first ones.' He used the stargate to seed his worlds with slave colonies of humans, and they spread among his brethren as well. Ra was cast off Earth some time later by massive slave rebellions."

"You thought MidChildans are originally descended from slaves stolen from Earth?" Chrono asked curiously.

"We honestly don't know what to think of your world," Daniel confessed. "The artifact we found with your address is contemporary with the stargates, by our estimations. The goa'uld are more recent."

"Interesting. Continue."

"Ra was a dominant force among his people, but he wasn't a match for their combined might. The galaxy existed in relative stasis and infighting among the goa'uld until, well, until we figured out the stargate."

"You, personally?" Chrono asked.

"Well, Sam led the team that designed the computer that runs the thing," Daniel said.

"And you're the one that figured out what it did and how to dial," Carter countered.

"I'll take that as a yes," Chrono said dryly. "So how did your gate travel disrupt this balance?"

"We met Ra," Jack said lightly. "And then we exchanged gifts. He tried to shoot energy into us, we put a nuke on his ship. Our gift was better."

"Ouch," Chrono observed. "So I'm guessing Ra is…"

"Space dust," Daniel confirmed. "I kept an eye on the dust cloud for a few months. There's nothing left to revive."

"Which changed the balance of power," Chrono guessed.

"Apophis claimed much of Ra's territory and led a small raid through Earth's stargate a year later. That…set off a major chain of events that ended with him leading an attack with two motherships."

"Two more nukes?" Chrono asked.

"They fired a couple missiles." Jack shook his head. "If you can get a bomb on the inside of the ship, they work great. Missiles just hit shields. We took out the ships with C-4."

"What is C-4?" Chrono asked.

Jack opened a pouch on his vest and slid a thin strip of some beige clay to Chrono. "It's a simple explosive. Packs a hell of a wallop. That strip is a great door opener."

"You're carrying high explosives?" Chrono asked, shocked.

Jack shrugged. "Never know when you might need to open a door."

Chrono pushed the explosive away carefully, like it might go off if he breathed too hard. "That's crazy."

"It's a stable compound," Sam assured the mage. "Without a proper detonator attached, it's very hard to set off."

Jack picked up the explosive and returned it to a vest pocket. "If anything sets it off, it would probably have killed me anyway," he says with a shrug. "Anyway, moving on."

"Apophis's lost fleet included some of his best jaffa," Daniel continued. Chrono's eyes flickered to Teal'c for a moment but he didn't interrupt. "Worse, it was a sign of weakness. His rivals tore him apart. He came to us for sanctuary, but died from his injuries. We turned his body over to the goa'uld Sokar so that he would stop attacking us to get to Apophis."

"So that's two of these 'system lords' that you've killed," Chrono said.

"We also took out Hathor just a few weeks ago, but she wasn't a system lord anymore," Jack said.

"I think I know why they might see you as a threat," Chrono said dryly. "What kind of ships do they use?"

"We've encountered four distinct classes," Sam said. "The ha'tak is basically a giant pyramid and fills the role of a battleship with carrier capability; a mothership. They carry fighters called death gliders."

"Sounds charming," Chrono offered wryly. "Armament?"

"A ha'tak is capable of leveling cities from orbit," Teal'c said gruffly. "Their weapons are evenly distributed for battle against other ships, and they are protected by a powerful energy barrier. However, few of their weapons can target small, agile vessels. The death gliders are made for strafing ground targets or intercepting other ships as needed."

"The other ships in common use are called al'kesh and tel'tak," Sam finished. "Tel'tak are unarmed and used for cargo or scouting. Al'kesh are a lighter combat vessel, like a destroyer or cruiser rather than battleship, and take the role of bomber in atmosphere."

Chrono nodded slowly. "Without some hard data it's hard to know how we'll match up against them, but it helps knowing about their fleet composition. What about the Asgard?"

"No idea," Jack said.

"Jack," Daniel admonished.

"Daniel."

Daniel rolled his eyes. "We've only encountered the Asgard a few times. All we know for certain is that they were allies of the gate builders and at least one other advanced species we encountered, their technology dwarfs the goa'uld's, and they have a treaty with the System Lords that stipulates that the goa'uld are not allowed to attack or otherwise interfere with certain planets. Based on the mythologies that grew up around them, they can be reasonably considered to be benevolent, but let people solve their own problems until they're in over their heads."

Chrono nodded, thinking that over. "Not an unreasonable position," he decided. "So if that treaty isn't signed and the goa'uld attack…"

"It's not likely that they'll intercede, no," Daniel finished.

Chrono asked a few more questions, pulling details of tactics and response patterns from Teal'c's expertise and technical information from Sam. Sam responded by asking as many questions about the Claudia, and slowly she gained an appreciation for what different systems did, if not exactly how.

* * *

The day-night terminator had just swept over Colorado Springs when the Claudia emerged from a swirling vortex into Earth orbit.

"Admiral," came a call from the sensor operator. "We have a contact in geosynchronous orbit, sydar-only. Contact is negative on the EM range."

SG-1 was on the bridge, observing. Sam frowned at the report. "Sydar?" she asked.

"Scrying detection and ranging," Chrono answered. "Basically a magic version of radar or ladar."

"Captain?" Jack asked.

Sam turned to her commander. "The ship is cloaked somehow, so the only way they spotted it was with their 'magic,' sir."

"Thank you," Jack said. "What's it look like?" he asked louder.

A starscape appeared on a forward monitor, empty. A grid of green lines outlined a shape based on sydar reports, a large ship with a vaguely hammer-shaped prow.

"That's Asgard," Jack said. "Can you contact them?"

"They're contacting us," a different officer called. "We have a subspace carrier wave trying to penetrate the hull."

"I appreciate the gesture but we're going to start this on equal footing," Chrono decided. "Can you match the carrier?"

A few clicks on the keyboard. "Done. Set to channel alpha-two."

Chrono triggered one of his own controls to transmit full audio-visual on that channel. "This is Admiral Chrono Harlaown of the Time-Space Administration Bureau. We are friends of the world below."

A new screen opened on the forward view, presenting an Asgard face. The ship's commander spoke with Thor's voice. "This is Supreme Commander Thor of the Asgard Fleet. We also claim friendship with the peoples of Earth."

Chrono nodded. "One that goes back somewhat further than our own," he said, waving Jack forward.

Thor's eyes flickered unreadably. "O'neill."

"Thor," Jack greeted. "Good to see you. Here to help us blow up some goa'uld?"

"Unfortunately no," Thor said calmly. "We cannot protect Earth without violating the Protected Planets Treaty, which would put many more worlds in danger."

"We are under no such restrictions," Chrono put in, "however it is not currently clear how long we can defend this world."

"Indeed?" Thor asked, shifting slightly. For an Asgard, it was a telling display of surprise. "Then it seems that getting Earth into the Treaty is our only long-term solution to this threat."

"Crazy idea," Jack said suddenly. "The Asgard have technology that severely outmatches the goa'uld, right?"

"Yes," Thor said.

"And you hate the goa'uld, right?"

"Our antagonism towards the goa'uld is not as emotionally charged as that," Thor offered.

"Captain?" Jack asked.

"The Asgard want to stop the System Lords but don't hate them," Carter translated.

"Then why don't you just take your ships and blow them away?" Jack asked. "Why bother with the treaty at all?"

"While it is true that the Beliskner and ships like her could easily stop a small goa'uld fleet, we do not have enough ships to fight the combined might of the System Lords."

Jack stared at the screen. "You're…bluffing?"

Thor hesitated a moment and glanced at Carter. "Captain?"

"Colonel O'Neill is asking if your stance as being more powerful than the goa'uld is a fabrication," Carter explained. Daniel coughed a laugh.

"Oh. Yes," Thor said.

Jack twitched.

Chrono frowned. "Excuse me, I don't understand. If you've kept up this bluff as long as you have, how do you not have more ships constructed?"

"Unfortunately, the situation is not that simple," Thor said. "We are currently at all-out war with an enemy whose technology and motives make them a far greater enemy than the goa'uld."

Daniel shuddered. "That's…that's a good reason for having a shortage of ships."

"And a bad reason," Jack said sharply. "You said currently at war. You're not winning, are you?"

"No," Thor said.

"How the hell have we missed this!?" Chrono exploded. "Are there any other evil bastards in the galaxy that we need to be introduced to?"

"Neither we nor our enemy is of this galaxy," Thor explained. "However, you have never encountered the goa'uld?"

"No," Chrono said. "We are here officially to hold negotiations for forging a relationship between the TSAB and Earth."

"Negotiations held aboard a warship?" Thor asked.

"We are also officially here to evaluate the threat to Earth as described in their emergency request for aid," Chrono said. "Unofficially, we're here to stop whatever attack you were talking about. We've never signed any agreement with the goa'uld, so there's no problem with us stepping in, right?"

"It is true that your actions would not damage our Treaty, however were you to destroy goa'uld ships in the name of defending Earth, it could have uncertain implications to the negotiations."

Chrono nodded and turned to Jack. "Colonel, I think you and your team should teleport to the surface. This is clearly a matter for your planet to decide upon."

Jack nodded. "I agree. How do we contact you with our decision?"

Thor held a small, ovoid, smooth stone up for inspection. "Place this device on your shirt and squeeze it." The stone glowed brightly a moment and vanished.

A similar glow appeared in the air before Jack and he jerked forward to grab the materializing stone. He looked over his prise a moment before lifting it in salute to Thor. "Thanks."

Thor nodded and ended the connection with his customary abruptness.

"Charming guy," Chrono observed with a touch of sarcasm.

"Mou, be nice Chrono," Nanoha said, walking onto the bridge with Vivio.

Chrono grinned. "That's Admiral Chrono," he chided, but he was clearly not serious. He and Nanoha had known eachother far too long for such formalities to really hold with them, especially with Vivio around to tear down Chrono's seriousness with her uber-cute pouting eyes attack.

"So how do we contact you?" Jack asked, although his eyes were on Vivio. Cute kid. He'd always had a soft spot for kids.

Nanoha handed him a scrap of paper. "Here," she said.

Jack took the scrap and looked it over. It was a series of numbers, seemingly random. He studied it a bit and then passed it to Carter. She looked it over, frowned, and then looked to Nanoha. "Okay, I give up. Radio frequency?"

Nanoha blinked. "It's my cellphone number." She held up a perfectly normal phone, clamshell design, pink and white cover.

"Oh," Carter stared for a moment, looking between the ubiquitous device and the phone number that suddenly made perfect sense. "How did you keep the service active from offworld?" she asked, lacking anything intelligent to say about her rather obvious blunder.

"It's on my parents' plan," Nanoha said.

Daniel looked at his friends, the advanced Asgard communication rock, the cellphone number, and shook his head. "Is this surreal to anyone else?"

"Just a bit," Carter muttered.

"Yeah," Jack agreed.

"Indeed."

* * *

Nanoha was still grinning when she transported down to the surface with Vivio. It really wasn't fair to the Americans to judge them for not recognizing a phone number after all the strangeness they had taken in stride, but it still made her want to laugh for the absurdity of it.

The two of them had teleported to a small alley where they wouldn't be seen not far from the Takamachi home. Vivio happily led the way and rang the doorbell three times before Nanoha calmed her down.

"I'm coming I'm coming," came the muffled voice of Shiro Takamachi. He was quiet for a moment and Nanoha knew he was looking out one of the windows to see who it was, and she knew that she'd never spot him if she tried. Besides, the door was flying open. "Nanoha!" he cried happily. "Vivio! What are you doing here?"

"Grandpa!" Vivio cried happily, launching herself at Shiro. The two hugged for a moment while Nanoha smiled contentedly.

"Something came up fast, Dad," she apologized. "We didn't have a chance to call ahead."

Shiro's smile shortened a bit and he put Vivio down. "Something?" he repeated. He gave Vivio's head a ruffle and stood back up, ignoring the slight twinge in his back that reminded him why he wasn't a bodyguard anymore.

Nanoha shrugged and smiled helplessly. "I can't really get into it," she admitted. "I promised…friends."

"It's something here, not on MidChilda?" Shiro asked.

Nanoha nodded, looking uncomfortable. "Please, Daddy, I really shouldn't."

Shiro looked his daughter in the eye. He knew that look; he had his own set of secrets from back in the day. "You're going to stop it from being dangerous?"

Nanoha nodded. "With everything I have," she promised.

"Then that's all I need to know," Shiro declared. "Now get over here and give me my hug."

Nanoha found herself in her father's arms and sighed. It was good to be back.


End file.
